The Drabble Box
by Airanke
Summary: Drabbles for Sengoku Basara and Naruto. Will mostly contain romance and/or fluff. And definitely mostly KoKasu, MasaIchi, and NejiHina.
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to my drabbles. Will have some Naruto drabbles later maybe.

Drabble 1: Unacceptable.

Pairings: Kojyuro x Kasuga; slight Masamune x Oichi.

Nothing is really developed and/or gone into, I just had the idea and decided I should write it out, since I liked it a LOT.

**WARNING: Contains slight spoiler for Countervail. If you wish to avoid this spoiler, please do not read this. :3 Though I'm sure it's tempting now isn't it?**

**

* * *

Unacceptable**

There were many things in life that could be determined as acceptable. Leaving the family to go to the army; that was acceptable. Growing up in a village then devoting time to becoming a shinobi; that was also acceptable.

And Kasuga knew, that in her training to become a shinobi, there were many things that she had been told she needed to accept.

She needed to be able to accept the fact that her friends might die before her.

She needed to be able to accept that she might die before her friends.

She even need to be able to accept that the lord she served might also die before she did.

Two months ago Kasuga couldn't even fathom the mere thought of possibly losing Kenshin – that had already almost happened once, and it had taken all her skill with her element to simply be able to remove the bullets from his wounds.

But at this moment, she found herself unable to accept the prospect of death, now that it was being presented right before her.

_'It should have been me,'_ she thought, lurching to her feet as the dust around her began to settle, _'it should have been me!'_

Her legs led her to where he lay, his chest rising and falling quickly as he tried to keep oxygen circulating through his system. At the left side of his mouth there was a splotch of red, and from the corner of his lips flowed a thin stream of blood. She dropped down to her knees next to him.

"Katakura-sama!" she cried, placing a hand on his chest, "Katakura-sama!"

He opened his dull green eyes, blinking slowly, seeking her out.

"K-Kasuga?" he turned his head in her direction, and upon seeing her a smile touched his lips, "oh, there you are. Are you," he swallowed suddenly, taking a breath before continuing, "hurt?"

Tears threatened to make their way into Kasuga's eyes as she shook her head vigrously from side to side, lowering her head so Kojyuro couldn't see her face, "no... no I'm not hurt."

"I see... that's good..."

"No it's not good!" she screamed at him, making him open his eyes wider in surprise, his smile disappearing. Kasuga grit her teeth, forcing her tears to slither back into their birthplace.

"It should have been me!"

"This would have killed you," he stated flatly, raising his hand with great effort to point at the boulder that had crushed his legs. A rock slide from above – the two of them had dodged most of the boulders but Kasuga had felt one decent sized rock slam against her head, knocking her unconscious; the result was Kojyuro throwing her out of harm's way and getting his legs smashed.

_'There will be no getting those back... even if he survives there will be no...'_ she tried not to think about it. As a shinobi she was meant to accept this. This was her life, this was what it would always entail; death.

_'But I can't accept this!'_ she clenched her hand into a fist, leaning forward until her forehead touched Kojyuro's.

"Kasuga?" he asked uncertainly, his voice ragged. She couldn't prevent the first few hiccups of her crying from being heard. She felt his right arm coil around her back, his left arm slightly above that.

_'If only I hadn't gotten to know him so well. If only we had never spent so much time together, as bodyguards, talking like bodyguards but getting to know each other... if -'_ she felt her tears seep out of her eyes, falling onto his face, _'I can if myself to death,'_ she realized, opening her eyes to find that he was staring back at her, fighting to keep his eyes open. The slower he blinked the more afraid she became that he was going to give up and die.

"Katakura-sama, don't close your eyes!" she begged him frantically, looking around. It would still be a while before the others found them. They had not been separated from the group but had instead gone scouting together, Kasuga in the trees and Kojyuro on the ground; Kotaro and Sasuke were the other scouting group.

Kasuga looked back down at Kojyuro, noticing that his head was turning towards the left, his eyes closing. Kasuga slammed her hands against the ground on either side of his shoulders, making him jolt and open his eyes.

"Don't close your eyes! You can't fall asleep you just can't!" she informed him, more tears streaming out of her eyes and down her nose, splashing onto his face and clearing away the dust.

He gazed steadily at her, a gaze she had become accustomed to after two months of frequently being by his side. They had spoken about many things, but never once touched the topic of death. Kasuga set to think, trying to bring up anything she could say to him to prevent him from closing his eyes.

They had talked about their relationship with their lords, Kojyuro always going out of his way to make her blush. And then they had talked about Sasuke, and again Kojyuro would go out of his way to make her blush. So in retaliation she had changed that conversation to one about Oichi, watching Kojyuro smile fondly before smirking and mentioning that his lord, Masamune, seemed to be quite taken by the woman but was unwilling to admit it.

"Think... think about Masamune! At least stay awake until he gets here!"

"I don't... believe I can do that... Kasuga. The only thing I can think about is... pain... the searing pain in my legs," he mumbled, his words somewhat jumbled together. Kasuga couldn't believe this. He couldn't even speak coherently anymore.

_'No! There has to be something else!' _she thought desperately, _'something else that will keep him awake!'_

"Think about Oichi! Think about Itsuki! Think about – think about -!" he had raised his hand and pressed a finger to her lips, shaking his head.

"All this thinking is... making... tired..." he spoke softly, his voice dipping in and out of audibility. Kasuga could hear her name being called by Sasuke – and several other voices - but she couldn't tear her gaze from Kojyuro's dulling eyes.

"Katakura-sama, Katakura-sama! Just wait a few more minutes they- they're coming! I-I can hear them! _Katakura-sama!_" she screeched, sobbing. The footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

"Kasuga?" that was Sasuke, but someone must have prevented him from moving forward. She faintly heard Sasuke say "Dokuganryuu?" in a confused voice and even though she wanted to look at him to see what expression he was making she still couldn't tear her gaze away from Kojyuro, who had now closed his eyes. His chest was barely rising and falling.

_'I can't... I can't accept this,' _she told herself, her attempts to stop her heavy sobbing abandoned. Someone else came to stand near her; Kasuga didn't look up at whoever it was casting that shadow. She could guess who it was, though, if high pony-tail wasn't hint enough.

"Katakura-sama... Katakura... Katakur..." she sniffed, watching as his hand twitched. Around her some of the bigger generals were spurred into motion by none other then Matsunaga Hisahide – surprisingly.

"All right, Kai no Tora, you lift that side I'll get this side" - that was Toyotomi Hideyoshi speaking.

"Mm. If one of you would take the back?" Takeda Shingen replied and a heavy weapon was dropped on the ground.

"Yeah, I'll get the back" - the rough voice belonged to the pirate general; Kasuga couldn't remember his name. Her lips continued to move as if she were still trying to keep Kojyuro conscious.

She knew he could hear was what going on around him because his left hand kept on twitching. His eyes were squeezed more tightly together when Hisahide said "three" and the generals lifted the boulder off Kojyuro's legs and tossed it to the side. Someone tried to pull her away from Kojyuro; she jerked furiously out of their arms and slapped at any other hands that she sensed coming near her.

"Kasuga," Kenshin was speaking to her now, "Kasuga, you need to move away from him. He's -"

"No he's not!" she denied, pounding her fist against the ground, "no he's not!"

"Kasuga -"

"Katakura-sama, open your eyes!" she demanded, "open your eyes!"

"Kasuga," Kenshin had knelt down next to her, one of his hands on her shoulder, "Kasuga, stop it."

_'But he's trying!'_ she wanted to say, seeing that Kojyuro's eyelids were shaking, _'he's trying to open his eyes!'_

"Katakura-sama!"

"Kasuga, enough," Kenshin ordered, grasping her with both hands. Kasuga clenched both her hands into fists, refusing to look away from Kojyuro. Another pair of hands appeared, one hand covered in a black glove the other in white, but the hands latched onto Kenshin's wrists and wrenched him away from Kasuga.

"Leave her be," Hisahide snarled, "can't you see he's struggling to hang on, or are you blind?"

If the sudden change in personality from the villain alarmed the rest of the group Kasuga wouldn't know; all she knew was that she had to keep trying. She called to Kojyuro again and again – but being the only one calling out to him wasn't helping much.

Tears welled up in Kasuga's already dry eyes once again, and in desperation Kasuga scratched at the ground with her fingers and screamed:

"_KOJYURO!"_

* * *

Kojyuro breathed deeply. He had finally recovered from getting his legs crushed, with said legs being fully functional. He opened his eyes, staring ahead of him at his swords. It had been three weeks since the incident; Kasuga had been around him often, but she seemed shyer then before. Kojyuro's thoughts drifted to other, stranger matters.

_'Who would have thought that Matsunaga could harness his element to heal. And it never crossed any of our minds that his element was light, not fire...'_ he sighed; the entire subject didn't make sense. This Matsunaga that they had come across was entirely different from the one Kojyuro had previously encountered; there was no way they were the same person.

_'He acts different, but looks the same. Though if it weren't for Kasuga...'_ Kojyuro furrowed his brow, looking up at the ceiling. In a last attempt – he was sure – to keep him concsious, Kasuga had screamed his first name with no abandon. If it hadn't been for her screaming then Kojyuro was sure he would have fallen unconscious, and whether or not Matsunaga had restored his legs wouldn't have mattered; he wouldn't have woken up.

But her scream made him open his eyes, and he hadn't missed the look of joyous relief on her face when he said "Kasuga?"

He sighed softly raking a hand through his hair. The door behind him slid open and disturbed his thoughts; he paused in raking his hand through his hair and he turned on his legs to see Kasuga standing in the doorway, a look crossed between stress and sadness on her face. He yanked his hand out of his hair, staring at her.

"Kasuga? What's the matter?" Kojyuro asked, standing as she approached him. She dropped her forehead against his chest, making him furrow his brow in confusion.

"Kasuga...?"

"I couldn't accept it," she whispered, her voice threatening to break. Kojyuro placed his hands on her shoulders.

"You couldn't accept what?"

"All my life I had been trained to accept it if someone close to me passed on before I did but I just couldn't accept it... that's why I had to try so hard..."

Kojyuro pushed her back so he could look at her face, "you should have let me die."

"I couldn't!" she exclaimed, her eyes bright with tears, "I couldn't let you die!"

"What about Uesugi? Would you be able to stand it if he died?" Kojyuro countered. The War God was her lord, surely she wouldn't be able to accept him dying.

She closed her eyes and shook her head positively, making Kojyuro pull back. After a moment he leaned back towards her, "then, what about Sarutobi? Would you be able to accept him dying?"

Again she nodded her head, eyelids pressing more tightly together, tears squeezing out of the corners of her eyes. She had been doing a terrible job at holding in her emotions lately.

"But of the three of us, I should be the one that you more readily accept the death of," Kojyuro told her sternly, watching as she lowered her head, her mouth in a frown.

"You should have let me die. It would have made you stronger if I -" he was silenced by her lips, which had suddenly placed themselves on his. His eyes widened in shock, his thoughts dissolving to mush; his feet stumbled back of their own accord and Kasuga followed him. Kojyuro could only think of the feeling of her soft, supple lips on his rough ones - he was too baffled to think of anything else.

When she pulled back she looked guilty – guilty of admitting that she could accept Sasuke and Kenshin's death but not Kojyuro's. His eyes searched her face for an explanation of her behaviour – _'we've only just gotten to know each other!'_ - but she looked down and darted out of the room moments later. Kojyuro made to call after her; however, Masamune appeared in the door way, looking in the direction Kasuga had gone; Kojyuro lowered the hand he had lifted.

* * *

Masamune turned his head to look at Kojyuro, seeing that his retainer looked confused. Masamune himself was confused, _'why was she here and what the hell is she running off for?'_

Seeking an answer, Masamune walked towards Kojyuro, "oi, Kojyuro! What's Kasuga running off for?"

"Ah- well, that I... I'm not sure," Kojyuro admitted, dropping to his knees on the floor, head bowed. Masamune plunked down next to him, leaning back on his hands. Silence passed between them.

_'That's odd,'_ Masamune thought, glancing at Kojyuro, _'I wonder what happened.'_

Before Masamune could begin to interrogate his retainer, Kojyuro spoke, "Masamune-sama, what would you do if I died?"

The question caught Masamune off guard – he hadn't really given that much thought.

_'Maybe I just shouldn't answer,'_ Masamune bit his lip when Kojyuro looked at him, a look close to desperation on his face, _'or maybe I _should_ answer that question... but...'_

"Well um... that's kind of sudden... but er... I would be... I would be really sad," Masamune grasped for a better explanation, "I would definitely cry. But those few weeks ago, you know, I didn't cry. Maybe a little. But Kasuga did all the crying for me," he smiled; the smile that touched Kojyuro's lips didn't go unseen by Masamune's lonely eye.

"But if you really did die, Kojyuro, I would cry. I'd move on, later, of course. I'd keep on living, you see?"

"I'm glad to hear that," Kojyuro mumbled, but Masamune could tell he was thinking of something else from the way he kept flexing his hands, "it is not a wish of mine for you to take your life in the event that I _should_ die."

"Oi, Kojyuro."

"Hm, Masamune-sama?"

"You know that Kasuga was the only one that was trying to keep you conscious, right?" Masamune asked, staring intently at Kojyuro's face. Kojyuro glanced at him, before nodding his head.

"Yes, I know. She apparently couldn't accept the fact that I was going to die before her."

"... Kasuga," Masamune said, watching Kojyuro's mouth turn up in a smile, though his eyebrows were drawn in at the middle.

"What?" he questioned, giving Masamune the famous "what in the world are you trying to say" face.

"You never noticed, huh? You smile every single time I say her name."

Masamune had never seen Kojyuro's expression go from happy to shock so quickly before.

"I... what?"

"You smile every single time I say 'Kasuga'. Or whenever I bring her up, you see?" Masamune informed him, watching him shake his head. Masamune nodded.

"Yeah you do. I may be half blind but that means I'm forced to pay attention to you, get it? I've never seen you smile so much. Seriously. Kasuga."

Masamune started chuckling when Kojyuro attempted to prevent himself from smiling.

"See, see?" he teased and Kojyuro punched him lightly in the shoulder, looking away.

"Stop that, Masamune-sama."

"But really, Kojyuro. Kasuga was the only one trying to keep you awake. And you opened your eyes because she called for you, right?"

"I... opened my eyes because..." Kojyuro's sentence trailed off as he tried to think of a reason for waking up.

"What, did you expect to see me standing there too? I don't think you opened your eyes for my sake."

"Masamune-sama I -"

"You opened your eyes for her sake, you see? Because she was the only one trying so hard to keep you conscious. You opened your eyes for her, not me."

"I -" Kojyuro was at a loss for words. Masamune tilted his head at him.

"You tellin' me you don't know what you're going through, why you opened your eyes? That, and what was the first thing you said when you opened your eyes? It sure as hell wasn't 'Masamune-sama'," Masamune told him, smirking. Kojyuro still couldn't find the words to say.

"See, if _I_ had to make an educated guess" - Kojyuro scoffed at the phrase 'educated guess' - "I'd say you... are falling in love, Kojyuro. Pretty damn hard too."

Kojyuro's eyes widened, "Masamune-sama, you aren't suggesting that -"

"Yes I am suggesting that you are falling in love with Kasuga. Why else would you smile every time I mention her? Why else would you open your eyes and cling to life if she was the only one calling out for you, huh? It isn't just because you really care about her, even I can figure that out, you see? You really are falling in love."

The seconds ticked by as Kojyuro simply sat there, on his knees, staring at Masamune with various emotions flickering through his eyes; so many that Masamune didn't think he would be able to name them all. Suddenly Kojyuro stood, his mouth in a grimace as being so impolite as to leave Masamune sitting in the room alone.

"Excuse me," and then he walked swiftly out of the room, heading in the same direction Kasuga had gone. Masamune smiled, _'well, at least he knows now. Oh, damn, Kami. Please help Kojyuro not screw this up. Oh, and help him seduce her. I could use a shinobi like her in the army,'_ he chuckled to himself.

"... Dokuganryuu?" a timid voice called and Masamune snapped his head up, seeing Oichi standing in the doorway, "Ichi is looking for Katakura-sama, actually, but, since Katakura-sama isn't here, Ichi will come back later."

_'... now that irks me,'_ before she had a chance to look away Masamune pinned her down with a piercing stare. He watched as her hands clasped together and she trembled.

"Oi, why don't you talk to me for a little bit. Why are you looking for him?" he asked as she slowly tread towards him, almost afraid. She was hiding her eyes with her bangs.

"I-Ichi needed to talk to him about something. I-Ichi doesn't know if she can tell Dokuganryuu."

"Why not?" Masamune probed, trying to keep his irritation from seeping into his voice, _'why can't she just call me by my name already? _Everyone_ else gets called by their name except me. It's really vexing.'_

"B-because it i-is a subject that c-concerns Dokuganryuu" - her voice was so quiet Masamune hardly heard her. But if it was a subject that concerned him then Masamune was sure he had a right to know what it was.

"What is it? Tell me."

"I-I-I-Ichi can't," she stuttered, looking away, "I-Ichi needs to talk to K-Katakura-sama first before Ichi c-can tell Dokuganryuu-"

"_Stop calling me that,_" he snarled, the irritation finally getting to him. He grabbed her shoulder and forced her to look at him – his hand dropped away from her shoulder and he stared, stunned.

Oichi's cheeks were dusted lightly with red, her purple eyes wide. Masamune couldn't help looking down at her trembling lips and immediately thinking, _'oh shit.'_

"... Ichi is sorry. Ichi will leave now," she spoke hurriedly and got to her feet. Masamune felt his ears grow hot and he scrambled to his knees, grabbing her waist in his hands and jerking her back. She gasped, her body going rigid as Masamune wrapped his arms around her and held her securely in his lap. He buried his face in her neck.

"I'm sorry. I'm just jealous, you see? You call everyone else by their names but I'm the only one stuck with the title."

"Dokuganryuu..." she muttered softly, turning her head. Masamune pressed his face harder against her neck.

"... Masamune..."

He jerked up his head and Ichi pressed slim fingers to his cheek, gazing up at him. Her eyes were bright but Masamune couldn't see any tears; her cheeks were now a brilliant red.

He touched his forehead to hers, making her close her eyes.

"'Masamune'... yeah, much better then 'Dokuganryuu'."

"I-Ichi is happy that Masamune -" she squeaked when he touched his nose to hers.

"Just be quiet, Ichi. Just... be quiet."

* * *

Kojyuro finally found Kasuga – eight minutes after so suddenly abandoning Masamune in favour of searching for her. She was standing near the willow trees next to the river.

"Well you're certainly hard to find," he commented, watching as she turned suddenly and sucked in a sudden breath; Kojyuro had assumed that she would attempt to flee and attempt to flee she did.

But he'd been expecting it, and moments after she dashed under the willow tree Kojyuro had her cornered against its trunk. She stared up at him in surprise while he stared down at her. They did not speak for several heartbeats.

"What was that?" he asked, knowing that she knew what he was talking about. She looked down, eyes shifting from left to right as she tried to think of an excuse.

"Why did you kiss me?" he rephrased, his voice coming out much softer then he would have liked. Kasuga looked up at him, pressing against the trunk of the tree.

"I... I don't know it's just" - Kojyuro shuffled closer, lowering his left arm - "you wouldn't stop t-talking so I, uh," she turned her head to the side, hiding her eyes somewhat with her bangs; Kojyuro breathed out steadily, caressing her face with his hand and making her look at him. She was blushing now, her eyes half-closed.

"You wouldn't stop talking about death so I – wanted to make you shut up so I -"

_'So you did exactly what I'm doing right now. You kissed me,'_ he silently finished for her, savouring the feeling of her lips. He pulled back slightly, listening to her breathe before her arms snaked around his neck and she pulled his head back down, pressing herself against him. His hand curved around the back of her head.

It was at times like these he wished he wasn't wearing his armor.

* * *

(A/N): Well, might take some guessing before anyone can figure out what the spoiler is, exactly. Probably a bit OOC, but I'm getting more familiar with the characters as I write them, so I'm getting there.

Yes I had to put some humor in. I didn't want it to be all sad.


	2. Chapter 2

So this is an incredibly long one-shot. Again.

Universe: Alternate Universe (Sengoku Basara Modern).

Pairing: Kojyuro x Kasuga; some Hisahide x Yusa on the side. I more or less put that couple in for the sake of writing out Yusa for the first time in prep for Countervail. She's an OC, by the way.

**

* * *

One of the boys**

"Oi, Kasuga! Let's go, let's go!" Motochika's voice was right outside her door. She rolled her eyes and finished doing the tie on her sweats. Motochika called out to her again.

"Come on, everyone's waiting!"

_'Everyone?'_ she thought, grabbing her hat and pulling it on as she walked over to the door. She briefly thought that her shirt was too short, but the guys never noticed when she was showing any skin anyway. Unless of course that guy was Sasuke – he _always_ noticed because he really liked to tickle her.

"Um, guys, I can't get out of my room you know..." she informed them after she pulled open the door. They were all packed around her door on either side, staring at her. It took them a moment to inch away from the door.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to crowd. It's just that if we didn't, no one would have been able to get by us," that was Hisahide talking. He was leaning against the wall to Kasuga's left and when she gave him her attention his eyes gave her the once over and he smirked. As they started walking down the hall of the hotel to the lobby he dropped in next to her, warm hand on her hip.

"You're getting a little too comfortable with us," he whispered in her ear, making her shiver. Before she could ask him what he meant he pulled away from her, walking ahead to chat with Mitsunari. Kasuga glared at his back.

_'Matsunaga, you bastard... you never explain anything to me,'_ her relationship with the man had been the same since primary school – she would come to him for help with homework and he would always explain it to her in the most difficult way he possibly could. She was sure he was doing it on purpose but in the end she always understood the problems she struggled to do. Sometimes she would even have a better understanding of the problems and wouldn't need his help again until the class moved onto a new, more difficult topic. Her relationship with him hadn't gotten any further then the "big brother-little sister" relationship, despite them being the same age.

Kasuga jumped when an arm wrapped around her shoulders and another wrapped around her waist. She looked to her left and right to see Masamune and Kojyuro; Masamune's arm was around her shoulders while Kojyuro's arm was around her waist.

"Hey hey how's my favourite girl?" Masamune asked, rubbing his cheek against her head. She pressed a hand to his chest, her lips curling up into a grin.

"Stop that, Masamune! Hey!" she protested only to have Kojyuro do the same to the other side of her head.

"Tired of us already, Kasuga?"

"Oh come on you two! Stop it!" she laughed, attempting to push both of them away. Yukimura appeared in front of Masamune, trotting backwards.

"Masamune-dono! You two had her yesterday!"

"Yeah, at least give the rest of us a chance to show her around," Sasuke complained, pouting at the two. Kojyuro and Masamune both tightened their grips on her.

"Ya snooze, ya lose, you see? Kojyuro and I will take her around again today, and you all are just gonna' have to accept that."

"Oi, oi, oi Ryuu-no-niisan! That really _isn't_ fair, you should give us other guys a chance to have Kasuga all to ourselves!"

Masamune stuck his tongue out at Motochika, who had come up on Masamune's left. Kasuga knew those two from the soccer team – she and Matsu were the only other two girls on the team. Kojyuro used to play soccer but after deciding to take on Chemistry and Physics he had to drop the activity – he didn't have time for it.

Kasuga knew a lot about the guys that they probably thought she didn't know. She knew that Motochika had a crush on Matsu, but because he was good friends with Toshiie he refused to let it show, even though it was causing him pain. She knew that Yukimura's favourite flavour of ice cream was Tiger Tiger and that he had only decided to come on this trip to Canada because the ice cream stores here had that flavour. She knew that Hisahide had only come on the trip because it meant he could spend time with his girlfriend since ninth grade, Yusa, who happened to live a block away from their hotel.

Masamune, Kasuga knew, spent more hours on the phone talking to Oichi then he did talking to anybody else and he had only admitted that he liked Oichi to Kasuga after she pestered him for a week about it. Sasuke probably liked Kasuga, but either he was too shy to admit it or someone else in the group was interested in her as well – _'someone intimidating enough to make him give up.'_

Mitsunari came because he felt he was needed to keep Ieyasu out of trouble and Ieyasu had come because he felt that he was needed to prevent fights from breaking out. The fights tended to break out when Kojyuro and Hisahide were too close to each other. And being at opposite sides of a room was too close; Kasuga was sure she was the only reason why they hadn't killed each other yet.

Out of all the guys in the group, however, Kasuga knew the most about Kojyuro – there was hardly anything that he didn't tell her and that she didn't tell him. Their friendship had started when Kasuga needed some help with Chemistry. It was her best science, but being absent on the day of an experiment wasn't helpful, even if she excelled at it. Kojyuro had agreed to be at the lab after school to help her complete the experiment.

She giggled at the memory as the group tried to fit into the elevator. Ieyasu had smartly squished himself next to Hisahide, technically holding the other man in the corner and well out of arm's reach from Kojyuro.

_'That Chemistry experiment was fun,'_ Kasuga recalled, tapping her fingers to her lips. Kojyuro still hadn't removed his arm from around her waist, which prompted her to look up at him. She blinked when she found that he was staring at her, though when he saw that he had been caught staring he quickly looked away. Kasuga stared at him for a few more seconds before she returned to her brooding, heart pounding.

_'W-well that was strange... anyway...'_ after that experiment, the two of them ended up spending more time together. She liked being around him because he was fun to tease, especially since he always tried to keep a straight face. His glares were always easily disarmed because of the blush that Kasuga always made appear on his cheeks. Her teasing had subsided once he starting teasing her back, and then one day in grade ten he had declared them even.

They were all in their last year of high school now, and Kasuga was simply "one of the boys". A lot of the girls in the class hated her because she was friends with all the guys. And all the guys just saw her as one of them, never bothering to give her a second glance, even though she was a girl. A girl with voluptuous breasts, big thighs and a slim waist.

Kasuga sighed as the group filed out of the elevator. She patted Kojyuro's hand, but instead of letting go like he normally would he kept his arm around her. Kasuga looked up at him and saw that he was distracted by something on his left. Kasuga leaned forward so she could see what was happening.

Hisahide was hugging a woman with brilliant red hair. Apparently her arrival had distracted the attention of everyone in the group; they were all staring.

_'That must be Yusa,'_ Kasuga realized when the woman leaned back, her eyes a dazzling pale yellow. Yusa blinked her eyes and was then looking at Kasuga. She glanced up at Kojyuro before her eyes flicked back to Hisahide.

"You told me that this was a group of guys, mongrel."

"I swear that's your most common nickname for me," before Hisahide could explain what Kasuga was doing there Motochika interjected.

"Wait, that's her _nickname_ for you? I was sure it was gonna' be somethin' more along the lines of 'darling' or 'sweetheart'," the group chuckled and Motochika grinned. Yusa tossed her head, releasing Hisahide and moving to stand next to him, hands on her hips. Kasuga stared in slight envy at the woman's form: a perfect hourglass. Masamune whistled.

"Immediately jealous," Sasuke muttered, pouting again. Yukimura looked around the group, confused. Kasuga smiled at the naive brunette, _'he just doesn't get it half the time. Makes me wonder if he'll _ever_ manage to get a girlfriend.'_

"I'm not a sweet little girl, but I do happen to be madly in love with this hippopotamus."

"Oh, now I'm a hippo? Make up your mind, Katsuhime," Hisahide retorted, grinning. Yusa tossed her head to look over her shoulder at him, batting her eyes.

"You tend to be a variety of animals in one day, zebra. Now make like a puppy and follow me, I'm sure these boys can find their own way around," Kasuga bit her lip at the irritation in Yusa's voice. Clearly, Kasuga was not a welcome presence.

Hisahide grabbed Yusa's arm before she could stalk away and pulled her back, "oh, Yusa, you aren't jealous are you? Kasuga's just one of the boys; she's always with us. Has been since we all started high school together."

Yusa's yellow eyes focused on Kasuga then and Kasuga tried to hide behind Kojyuro, peeking out from behind his back.

"She's a woman that suits you, Matsunaga. Just as every bit as feral as you are," Kojyuro's voice dripped with venom.

"Feral? I'm not the one who's feral, Katakura," Hisahide replied. Before Kasuga could intervene she heard Yusa speak.

"Hisahide, do you want me to leave?"

There was an odd silence, like no one had been expecting her to say that. Kasuga poked her head around Kojyuro to see that Hisahide's expression had grown sullen.

"You say that all the time, Yusa. I wonder when you'll actually mean it."

The pain in his voice made Yusa look at the ground; Kasuga glared at her. Hisahide was one of Kasuga's friends, and girlfriend or not Yusa didn't have the right to hurt him like that.

_'But I guess that's what he meant when he said she was a difficult woman. And Kojyuro's right, she's nearly as unpredictable as Hisahide is,'_ Kasuga tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at the couple because Yusa had grabbed his hand and was dragging him away.

"It's the only thing I know to say to keep you out of fights," Yusa's voice was soft when she spoke.

"So you're worried about me getting hurt then?" Hisahide asked. Yusa jerked him forward and he stumbled, but a smile had found its way back onto his lips.

"Be quiet," Yusa hissed, continuing to drag him away. Hisahide waved over his shoulder and fell in step next to her. Kasuga tore her gaze away from them and looked up at Kojyuro, finding him staring at her once again.

"Oi, oi, oi, Katakura! You wan' us to leave you two alone?" Motochika teased. Kojyuro's face flushed – much to Kasuga's surprise – and he turned around, effectively pulling his arm away from her and stalking towards Motochika.

"Shut it, Chousokabe," he snarled. Motochika squeaked and dashed away; Kojyuro ran after him, easily catching up and snaking his arm around Motochika's neck in a choke hold. Motochika flailed his arm while everyone else laughed enthusiastically.

"Uncle, uncle! Uncle I say!" Motochika yelled until Kojyuro let him go. He whisked his hand through his hair, eyes flicking in Kasuga's direction before he continued walking. Kasuga attached herself to Yukimura's side. Her heart skipped a beat when Kojyuro glanced over his shoulder at her; she shuffled behind Yukimura a bit, confusing the brunette and making Kojyuro narrow his eyes, his head jerking back around to face ahead of him.

The group reached an ice cream store called The Cone Shop; Yukimura eagerly shot inside, eyes roving over all the flavours until he found Tiger Tiger. Kasuga wandered over to the right side of the small store, mindlessly tapping her fingers on the glass in front of her.

_'Hm, what to choose, what to choose... Bubblegum looks good... so does Cherry Cheesecake,'_ she pursed her lips, wondering between the two flavours. Chocolate chip cookie dough caught her eye as well, but she immediately forgot about what flavour of ice cream she wanted to choose when heat radiated onto her back from behind. A large hand pressed against the glass to her right and she recognized the sweatband around the wrist.

"K-Kojyuro?" she stuttered, looking over her shoulder. She felt his breath caress her forehead and tilted her head to the right when he lowered his chin to her shoulder.

"What are you getting?" he asked, his voice low. Yukimura was doing his best to speak English without Masamune's help, making the Canadian girl behind the counter giggle at him while Masamune made that "go on" gesture with his hand, rolling his palm around in circles. Kasuga brought her hands up to her chest, tempted to lean back against Kojyuro.

_'I-it's nothing, absolutely nothing, mm-hm!'_ she assured herself and quickly answered Kojyuro's question, "I-I couldn't decide between Bubblegum and Cherry Cheesecake."

Kojyuro released a quick breath of air from his nose, "we're in Canada, Kasuga. Cherry Cheesecake could be considered an international flavour. I've never heard of Bubblegum before myself."

"U-uh, that's true... I guess I'll get Bubblegum then," she smiled at him, "what about you? Gonna' be adventurous again?"

"I'm not sure. How much more adventurous could I get with ice cream? I doubt they have Tofu flavour. Or seaweed."

"Kojyuro, those flavours would be kind of gross," Kasuga complained, her eyes darting over the flavours in front of her again. Her eyes were drawn more then once to Chocolate chip cookie dough and so she pointed at it.

"How about that?" she asked him, looking up because he had lifted his chin from her shoulder. A quick glance in Yukimura and Masamune's direction showed her that Yukimura was happily devouring his double scoop of Tiger tiger and Masamune...

Masamune had fixed his one-eyed gaze on the two of them, much to the chagrin of the girl behind the counter. Kasuga glanced at her and rolled her eyes.

_'These Western girls... so obsessed with the Asian men. It's annoying,'_ Kasuga was tempted to snap her fingers at the girl but Masamune spoke first, obviously telling the girl that she should probably attend to the customers that wanted ice cream.

"Oi, Masamune..." Kojyuro's voice had an edge of irritation in it. Kasuga looked at him, then Masamune, confused. She hadn't understood much of what Masamune had said, since she had dropped English in favour of taking French. She annoyed the guys by randomly speaking in French to them, and then leaving them to try and figure out what she had gotten so worked up about. Hisahide never helped them, despite knowing the language himself; he always laughed.

Masamune winked, Kasuga believed, and left the store. Whatever it was that he had said in English had irritated Kojyuro badly; Kasuga could practically feel the irritation seeping off his body. The girl walked over to stand in front of them, muttering under her breath. She asked a phrase Kasuga could understand: "what do you want?"

Kojyuro's English was much better then Kasuga remembered; even the girl behind the counter appeared surprised, her eyes blinking. She made a comment that made Kojyuro release a short chuckle and then Kasuga felt Kojyuro knee her very lightly.

"She wants to know what kind of cone you want, waffle cone or regular?"

"Waffle," Kasuga said, huffing the first half of the word. An oddly affectionate look crossed Kojyuro's features before he told the girl what Kasuga wanted – Kasuga rustled around in her wallet after she had fished it out of her pocket.

_'Ice cream seems so cheap here. Only two dollars for a single,'_ Kasuga accepted her cone from the girl and set the coin on the counter. As the girl wandered over to the cash register she asked Kojyuro what he wanted. He replied, she finished her work at the cash register and proceeded to get Kojyuro his ice cream.

Kasuga bit into hers, savouring the delicious flavour of bubblegum. She came across something hard, and upon biting into it she nearly squealed in joy. Kojyuro stared down at her as he exchanged his toonie for his cone.

"What's got you all happy?" he asked; Kasuga elbowed him in the chest, making him grunt. She walked towards the door, licking her ice cream.

"There's small pieces of bubblegum in this. That's what I'm so happy about."

Kojyuro squinted after her before following. Yukimura was the only one outside at the tables, and Kasuga momentarily thought that they had been ditched. Yukimura looked up, a bit of orange ice cream on his nose.

"Oh, hi! They just went down the street to get some pizza, I think. They figured we should finish our ice cream first."

Kasuga noticed that Kojyuro had tensed; he was letting his ice cream drip off his cone and onto his knuckles.

_'It won't do him any good to get sticky knuckles,'_ Kasuga thought, leaning over to lick his knuckles off for him. She could have sworn she heard him gasp lightly and she straightened, smiling at him.

"You were letting your ice cream get all over your knuckles," she informed him. Upon opening her eyes she was startled to find that his cheeks were dusted with a light red, his eyes wider then how he usually had them, his eyebrows narrowed back just a bit. Kasuga stared; he had never made an expression like that before.

"Y-you could have told me," he stuttered, walking briskly over to the picnic table Yukimura was sitting at. Kasuga had never heard him stutter either, nor had he ever walked so quickly away from her before. He sat across from Yukimura agitatedly biting into his ice cream. Kasuga giggled, her lips curling up in a sly smile.

_'Hm... looks like I found something new to tease him about,'_ she trotted over to the table herself, seating herself next to Kojyuro. He glanced at her.

"What?"

"Let me try some of that," she told him, holding her ice cream out to her right as she leaned towards him. He leaned away, keeping his ice cream close to him.

"Why would I do that?" he asked, looking down at her. Yukimura was completely ignoring them, a bit of orange still on his nose. He was staring off to his left, clearly watching for the rest of the group to return with whatever pizza it was they went to get. Kasuga leaned closer to Kojyuro, deliberately pressing her breast against his side. He leaned away from her, eyebrows twitching downwards.

"Why wouldn't you? Come on, Kojyuro, let me try it!" she demanded, nearly letting go of her ice cream. Kojyuro had let go of his, but there was another hand holding onto it.

_'Yukimura?'_ Kasuga glanced at the brunette. He had his cone mostly in his mouth and was holding onto Kojyuro's cone as well as Kasuga's. Kasuga smiled and let go of hers, continuing in her assault of Kojyuro.

"Oi, Kasuga!" he protested as she pressed her hands to his shoulders.

"If I can hold you down I get to try some!" she announced, quickly putting all her strength into pushing Kojyuro down against the bench. She soon found that he wasn't resisting and was just letting her hold him down. They stared at each other, Kasuga stunned to see the vulnerable expression on his face. His breathing had increased slightly and his cheeks were red. She stayed leaned over him for several minutes before she realized what she was doing. Carefully she pushed back up into a sitting position, letting him sit back up as well.

She accepted her ice cream back from Yukimura but lost her appetite for it, _'just what was I thinking? Pinning him down like that... and he didn't even resist..._' she glanced at Kojyuro to find that he was holding his ice cream cone in front of her, staring at The Cone Shop in front of him.

"Here. You _did _manage to hold me down," he muttered, refusing to look at her. Kasuga quickly took a bite out of his ice cream, munching on the cookie dough she found in the bit she had taken. She gave a bob of her head and Kojyuro pulled his hand back. Kasuga was relieved when the rest of the guys finally got back with the pizza – the tension between her and Kojyuro had finally subsided.

Half way through their pizza Hisahide returned with Yusa; they were still holding hands.

"So, where did you two go?" Ieyasu asked. Hisahide sat down next to him and Yusa sat on his lap.

"We just went over to the river bank there. I fell asleep."

"As usual, you sloth."

"Now I'm a sloth?"

"Yes."

Hisahide sighed, turning his head to look at the group, "I was a cat before."

"You were acting like one. Stretching out in the sun, rubbing your head against my stomach," Yusa gasped and slapped at Hisahide's hands, which Kasuga assumed were on Yusa's stomach. He buried his nose in her neck.

"You have a nice stomach," Kasuga managed to hear him say before she decided to tune the two out. She refused to admit that she was slightly jealous of Yusa for having gotten Hisahide's undivided attention.

_'He may be a manipulative bastard who loves seeing others suffer but... under all that he's the type of guy any girl would want...' _she bit her lip, _'not that I would ever admit I liked him for a while... I don't even think I told Kojyuro that I had a crush on him before,'_ she bit her lip, remembering her unrequited love for Uesugi Kenshin, one of the professors at their school. Of course, she would never be able to be in a relationship with him, since he was a teacher, but nothing stopped her from hoping that maybe, just maybe, she would be able to be with him.

An arm bumped against hers, accompanied by a light complaint. She glanced to her left, seeing that Masamune had more or less forced Kojyuro to sit closer to her. Now that Kasuga knew how close he was she tensed up again, resting her chin on the back of her hand as she leaned against the table.

Motochika looked at her, then looked at Kojyuro, then grinned and was about to speak but Kasuga quickly tackled him off the bench. Her actions startled laughter out of the group.

However, while she was wrestling with Motochika, Hisahide's words from earlier came back to her.

"_You're getting a little too comfortable with us."_

She stopped wrestling with Motochika – he lay sprawled out on the ground, laughing boisterously – and raised her gaze to Hisahide. Both Yusa and Hisahide were staring at her, not in a shocked way, but in a way that made Kasuga nervous. Yusa's yellow eyes flicked between Kasuga and Kojyuro several times, and Kasuga turned her head slightly, wondering if she should look, narrowing her eyes at Yusa in confusion. Hisahide nodded his head once in Kojyuro's direction, then buried his nose in Yusa's neck again. The woman turned her head so she could press her lips to his forehead. Their actions made it seem like they hadn't been watching what was happening all along.

Unable to resist looking, Kasuga turned her head so she could see Kojyuro's face. Her wondering about why both Yusa and Hisahide were encouraging her to look at him was quickly brought to a halt when she saw Kojyuro's expression.

He wasn't looking at Kasuga, but he _was_ looking at Motochika, his lips slightly parted and turned down in a frown. His eyebrows were narrowed inwards; he had the look of jealousy all over his face, even in the way he leaned against the table, shoulders hunched forwards. Kasuga stared at him in disbelief.

_'He's jealous? Him of all people? Wait, wait! Why is he jealous?'_ she had a lot of questions to ask him now, like why he was jealous that she was wrestling with Motochika and why did he stand so close to her in The Cone Shop and most importantly _why_ did he get so irritated when Motochika suggested that the group leave him alone with Kasuga.

Masamune stood up and stretched, "right, who's coming to the movie?"

Several hands shot up; only Hisahide, Kojyuro, Kasuga and Mitsunari didn't raise their hands.

"Phew, why aren't you coming, Kasuga?" Motochika asked her as he got up. Kasuga looked over her shoulder at him, tapping her lip.

_'If I say it's because I want to talk to Kojyuro everyone will start teasing me. I don't need that um...'_ she faked a yawn, "I'm kind of tired, that's all. Besides, you guys are probably going to The Green Hornet, and I'm not interested in those kinds of movies."

The group laughed and Masamune nodded his head, "yep, that's what we're going to watch. We'll be taking the car. Anyway, I'm guessing you two are gonna' go out somewhere?" Masamune asked of the only couple in their group.

"We're going to watch the sunset," Yusa replied, patting Hisahide on the head, "his idea."

"Wow, so romantic," Masamune teased in English, smirking when Hisahide lifted his head. Hisahide simply grinned.

"You three can come if you like," he offered, shooing Yusa off his lap so he could get up. The two of them started walking away, this time with their arms around each other. Hisahide looked over his shoulder and quirked an eyebrow.

"I'll pass," Mitsunari said, standing, "I myself am quite tired so I think I'll be heading to bed early. Yukimura, you have your own key right?"

"Hai! I remembered to take it out of the card holder this time."

Mitsunari gave a curt nod of his head, "good. Try not to make too much noise when you come back."

"Mm, Mitsunari-dono! I'll do my best."

Mitsunari started walking back towards the hotel; Kojyuro followed him and Kasuga followed Kojyuro, giving Hisahide a small wave. She looked over her left shoulder to see the rest of the guys walking in the direction of the gas station where Masamune had left their rented car, though Kasuga was sure they could walk to the theatre.

_'Maybe Masamune just wants the added practice. He'll be coming to Canada for University, after all,' _Kasuga felt a tap on her arm and she looked up to find Kojyuro had dropped back to walk next to her. Her eyes widened briefly.

"You don't look so tired to me," he informed her. She huffed and quickened her pace.

"I'm not tired, actually. I wanted to talk to you."

"Wha- why?" the tone of his voice made it sound like he was demanding she answer him. Kasuga tossed her head and pursed her lips at him.

"Hm, wouldn't you like to know. I'll come by later, I wanna' change," she told him, then hurried into the elevator with Mitsunari. Kojyuro must have shook his head at Mitsunari because the silver haired man raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and pressed the button to close the elevator door. Kasuga caught a glimpse of Kojyuro's expression when she turned around – he had that contemplative look of his, eyes squinting. A smile tugged at Kasuga's lips.

_'Well, at least I got him thinking about it.'_

Once she got back to her room Kasuga changed into a pair of bellbottom jeans and a regular T-shirt. If she was going to be in the same room with Kojyuro alone, it would be better if she wore less revealing clothes then she had worn earlier. Her T-shirt had a simple design on it, two stripes of brown across the chest. She put on a belt to ensure that her jeans stayed on her hips and then she sat down at her desk, writing a an email to her mother since her mother wanted to know all about her trip and how she was doing.

Of course, Kasuga left out certain details, like how Kojyuro kept his arm around her and how she had pinned him down – her mother didn't need to know that because her mother would definitely get too excited and ruin everything.

_'Even if she has the best of intentions... that's why I never told her about any of my crushes.'_

Once she had sent the email she stretched and glanced at the time. The movie was probably almost over now. It wasn't even dark outside yet, even though it was eight pm.

_'Sure is bright in Canada during summer,'_ Kasuga realized, _'I'll go over to Kojyuro's room now. I want some answers from him.'_

Kasuga made her way down the hall after she left her room, slipping the card key into her back pocket. She walked quietly, listening to her own heart beat in her chest. She hated that she was nervous about this. She was in the same room as a guy _all_ the time and was usually alone with said guy – why did it seem like this time was different?

She knocked on the door to his room, taking a deep breath to calm herself while the door opened. Kojyuro stuck his head out, scowled at her, then pulled the door open all the way. She huffed.

"What was that scowl for?"

He was silent, opening and closing his mouth before deciding against talking. Kasuga smirked at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Let me guess, you were waiting for me to come weren't you?"

He scowled again, the tips of his ears turning red. He grabbed her arm and dragged her inside, making her squeak.

_'He doesn't have to get so upset!'_ she inwardly protested. Obviously his roommate was Masamune. The other boy's clothes were strewn all over the floor, the bed and over the other desk in the room.

"Not gonna' bother with Masamune's mess?" Kasuga asked, sitting down on the bed that was made; she assumed it was Kojyuro's bed, since the left side of the room was totally trashed.

"Why would I bother cleaning up his mess?" he glanced at her from the desk he had gone to sit down at, his right arm dangling over the chair, "and I can see that you know which side is mine anyway."

"Kind of obvious. You were always the tidy one," Kasuga told him. The two lapsed into silence. Kasuga decided, after five minutes of the silence, that she should ask what she came to ask. When she looked up at Kojyuro she was startled to find that he was standing, his hand gripping the top of the chair tightly.

"What are you here for, anyway?" he asked. His voice sounded heavier then usual. The sound made Kasuga nervous.

"Huh? I just wanted to ask you something... a few somethings," she replied, looking down at her feet as she kicked them. Kojyuro's feet appeared in her line of sight and she looked up. He was staring down at her, breathing evenly.

"If you have some_things_ to ask, start asking," he informed her. Kasuga pouted up at him. She felt his hands on her ribs too late and was soon laughing uncontrollably.

"Since you're not just going to ask, I'll tickle them out of you!" Kojyuro declared. Kasuga could feel tears welling up in her eyes she was laughing so hard; she collapsed back on the bed.

"K-K-Kojyuro s-s-s-s-s-stop tickling m-me! H-how am I-I going to a-a-ask you any-hee-hee-thing if y-you're t-t-tickling me!" she managed to open her eyes after he stopped. She felt the bed dip where he rested his hands, putting his weight on them.

Her laughter subsided to giggling and soon her mind processed the position she was in.

_'This... this isn't good,'_ she could feel a blush beginning to rise to her cheeks, _'this... he... um... should I say something? Should I...?'_ Kasuga released an unsteady breath.

Perhaps coming to the room by herself after teasing him so much had not been a good idea. She didn't know why he hadn't moved yet, nor why he was looking at her the way he was. One of his knees was on the bed; her legs were far enough apart for him to easily lie on top of her – he just hadn't done so yet.

Kasuga raised one of her hands and wrapped it around his forearm. He jerked back, finally aware of what was going on. Kasuga sat up with him and though he tried to move away she tightened her grip on his arm and spoke nervously, "wait."

Kojyuro stopped moving, his nose skimming her hairline - _'he's too close, way too close.'_

"What?" the question was voiced softly; confusedly, almost, a tone Kasuga had never heard from Kojyuro before. And the way he said it wasn't in upset or irritated way that the word "what" was usually said with; he actually sounded confused, and the more she thought about it the more it seemed like it had been asked in a desperate voice.

Kasuga looked up at him, refusing to let go of his forearm, "why... why did you look so jealous when I was play fighting with Motochika?"

The narrowing of his eyes told her that his earlier expression wasn't one she was meant to see. If he had spoken Kasuga was sure he would have said "you weren't supposed to see that".

Kojyuro touched his forehead to hers, making her breathing quicken. She felt his hand on her stomach and looked up at him again to tell him to stop, but his face was too close and she couldn't make any words form in her mouth; she quickly looked away.

"You know, Kasuga, unlike the rest of guys here, I _do_ notice. I _do_ know that you're a woman, and I'm a man," he whispered, running his hand over her stomach, "it doesn't help that you tend to forget that fact and wear short shirts. Sometimes it can be rather tempting..."

"K-Kojyuro," Kasuga breathed in deeply. His fingers were still running over her stomach and the proximity of his face still too close for Kasuga to look up at him. She latched onto his wrist with her right hand, pulling down. Her cheeks burned.

"Kojyuro, look, I – it's not like I _try_ to forget i-it's just -"

"We treat you too much like you're one of us. You got too comfortable with that fact. You're the _only_ girl on this trip, Kasuga, take that into consideration. On top of that, you're in your room by yourself. Sooner or later, the rest of the guys will notice. And when they notice, you're going to be in trouble," he berated her. It was something he always did. He always lectured people when they did something stupid. Kasuga finally looked up at him.

"You mean like I'm in trouble right now?" she inquired quietly. Kojyuro's face darkened slightly before he replied in a husky voice.

"Like you're in trouble right now."

"But, Kojyuro," Kasuga began in an attempt to distract him, "if you've already know that you're a man and I'm a woman, then why haven't you been treating me like a girl?"

"You don't stop to wonder how noticeable that would end up being. Like at The Cone Shop. It was noticeable to Chousokabe, wasn't it? You let my proximity bother you; I let your proximity bother me. Chousokabe is starting to notice," he explained to her, finally withdrawing his hand from under her shirt and setting it on the bed. He deliberately leaned towards her making her reflexively lean back.

_'I can't let him push me back I just can't. Masamune could barge in at any moment,'_ her mind churned out several things she could say but none of them could counter what Kojyuro had pointed out.

"Okay, okay, s-so I let the fact that you get so close bother me b-but why did you get so close at The Cone Shop? You didn't _have_ to get that close, did you?"

Kojyuro lowered his head at her, a his eyes darkening dangerously. He easily overpowered her and slammed her down against the bed. Kasuga was too stunned to make any sound.

"How damn _obvious_ does a guy have to get?" he demanded, his large hands preventing her from moving. Kasuga stared back at him, eyes wide. She began to see – in the dim light – that his cheeks were tinted with red and that his lips were tight over his teeth from nervousness. Her eyes widened further when the realization of what he was implying hit her.

_'He... he likes... he...'_

Kasuga opened her mouth to speak but she heard a click and instead whispered, "oh Kami Kojyuro _get off._"

Kojyuro glanced over his shoulder then stood, jerking Kasuga into a standing position. He rolled onto his bed then, tucking his arms behind his head and Kasuga sat down next to him; Masamune poked his head inside the room. Upon seeing Kasuga and Kojyuro there he looked back over his shoulder.

"Oi, Sasuke! Kasuga's in here. I told you you had nothing to worry about, you see?" Masamune informed the other man, who was now poking his head inside the room. He narrowed his eyes at Kojyuro before focusing his gaze on Kasuga. She got up from where she was sitting at a normal pace, since jumping up would probably alert Sasuke that something was amiss.

"Sorry for the intrusion. You should really clean up your mess, Masamune," she said to him as she walked towards the door. Masamune made a face and stepped aside. Before Kasuga could leave the room entirely she heard Kojyuro breath in. She stopped walking and looked at him.

"Kenshin is a lost cause, Kasuga. Give it up," he didn't even look at her, just kept staring at the ceiling. Masamune scowled and proceeded to charge Kojyuro, leaping dynamically onto Kojyuro's bed and ultimately onto him. Kojyuro was terribly winded.

"Masamune you oversized pest!"

"That was really uncalled for Kojyuro don't be so mean to her!" Masamune retorted, pressing his hand against Kojyuro's face though Kojyuro easily shoved him onto the floor. Kasuga quickly stalked out of the room, followed by Sasuke. She stopped walking next to his door.

"You don't have to accompany me to my room, Sasuke."

"But, Kasuga..." she didn't want to listen to him voice his concern over the whole issue.

"Sasuke, really! It's nothing. He's just being Kojyuro," she assured him, turning around and smiling at him because her smiling at him was the only thing that would make him leave her alone. His frown deepened but he accepted that reason and knocked on the door to the room he shared with Motochika.

The other man opened the door and threw his arms around Kasuga, giving her a mighty hug, "ahh, Kasuga-chan! Had me 'n' Sasuke here worried when you didn't answer your door. We picked this up for ya!" he handed her a pretty tear-drop shaped pendant on a chain. The tear-drop was a deep sapphire colour. She accepted it, smiling happily. How nice of them to think of getting her something.

"Thanks guys," she said, hugging them both around the neck. Motochika wouldn't stop chuckling. Kasuga headed down the hall to her room, listening as the door to Sasuke and Motochika's room closed.

_'Wait a second... where's my...?'_ Kasuga silently cursed herself. Her card key must have fallen out of her pocket, either when Kojyuro was tickling her or when he pushed her down against the bed. She gnawed on her lip, wondering if she should go back to Kojyuro and Masamune's room to retrieve her key when it was being dangled in front of her face. She jumped, gasping lightly; she hadn't even heard him.

Instead of taking the card from Kojyuro, Kasuga focused her gaze on the floor, "why did you say that?"

"Because you should know better," he replied, moving to stand behind her. Kasuga straightened, but that only served to bring her closer to pressing herself against Kojyuro's chest. He had her cornered against the door, his right hand blocking her escape to the side and he had leaned his head over her shoulder again, cutting her off on the left.

Her heart jumped wildly in her chest, butterflies dancing in her stomach. Usually being close to Kenshin was the only time that the heart jumping was triggered however she had never experienced the butterflies before.

_'Could that mean that maybe I actually... actually like Kojyuro? I'm confused,'_ she leaned her forehead against the door.

"Kasuga?"

"I – I can't deal with this – no, that's not what I want to say. Um..." she turned around, leaning against the door, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks, "you... you like me, right, Kojyuro? Just answer me."

"... yes," he glanced away, his expression betraying that he was being honest.

"So then – then," Kasuga struggled to find the words to express what she wanted to, "let me think about it? No that's wrong... uh, give me some time and – no that's wrong too..." she looked down at the floor again, cursing the butterflies in her stomach; they weren't helping her out a whole lot.

She heard the sound of the card being inserted into the door and pulled back out, then the handle was turned and the door was opened.

"E-eh? K-Kojyuro? Eh – w-wait a second – eh," Kasuga tried to figure out what he was doing but all she could figure out was that he was walking forwards and she was walking back. The door closed, engulfing the room in darkness except for the bit of orange-red light that filtered in through the sheer curtains pulled across the window.

The two of them passed by the desk and Kojyuro set the card key down on it. He didn't stop walking towards Kasuga until she was pressed up against the window; the sun warmed her back considerably. She turned her head to the side, trying to keep her breathing under control. Kojyuro's lips touched her temple.

"What if I don't want to let you think about it?" he muttered, making her look at him. Kasuga stared at him, her lips parted.

"But if I don't think about it then... then..."

"If you don't think about it then you'll forget about him, right?" Kojyuro offered, bracing his left forearm against the window; his right hand was holding her face in place, making it impossible for her to look away from him.

"Uh... uh..." she swallowed, pressing both her hands against his chest and leaning forwards, forcing him back, "don't, Kojyuro. I – I have to figure out my own feelings first."

His hands dropped away from the window and he sighed, turning around, his head shaking from side to side. He gave her a wave.

"Fine. Give it a thought. See you in the morning," he left the room without waiting for a reply from her – without sparing her a glance.

Kasuga collapsed onto her bed, grinding her teeth together.

_'I hurt him. I hurt him,'_ she thought to herself, _'I really hurt him.'_

Kasuga fell into an uneasy sleep later that night, tossing and turning in her bed. Did she like him, or did she not? And what about Kenshin? Kojyuro was right on one point: Kenshin was her teacher and no matter how much she dreamed and wished and prayed that relationship wasn't going to be happening – the student teacher relationship was much looked down upon in society. Kasuga would end up hurting herself, and her reputation.

She was sure she only got a wink of sleep before someone was pounding on her door. She heard Sasuke calling to her, his words muted through the closed door.

"Kasuga, come on! You don't want to miss the breakfast buffet, do you?"

_'Of course I don't want to miss it. But...'_ she forced herself to get out of bed and changed into a loose shirt and jean shorts, _'Kojyuro will be there.'_

She looked down at her shorts, noting that for the first time she felt like they were _too_ short. They ended at the middle of her thighs. She sighed, shook her head and quickly opened her door before Sasuke could assault it anymore. He stared at her in surprise.

_'I need to brush my teeth...'_ Kasuga thought, feeling embarrassed. She had horrible morning breath. She brought a hand up to cover her mouth, making Sasuke look at her oddly.

"I have really bad morning breath. I'm going to brush my teeth first, see you down there."

He laughed, grinning at her, "okay okay. But don't take too long. I might have to come back up here to get you," he ruffled her hair before trotting down the hall. Kasuga sifted her fingers through her hair trying to undo the damage he had done.

"What's with him? Now _he's_ acting weird."

After brushing her teeth – and feeling a little better – she made her way downstairs, eager for some food. Yukimura and Sasuke were the first ones to notice her arrival, waving at her. Apparently the guys were all getting along this morning, which was a first. Kasuga was about to make a bee-line for the food, but upon seeing Kojyuro and Hisahide sitting next to each other, both of them looking rather irritated, she stalked over and sat herself between Sasuke and Yukimura.

"Eh, Kasuga? Aren't you hungry?"

"I am hungry but I'm more worried about those two," she replied, nodding her head at the men across from her. Sasuke laughed nervously.

Both of Kojyuro and Hisahide had grins on their lips, but their eyes were both narrowed, their eyebrows angling down towards the bridge of their noses. She had seen them get these looks on their faces before getting into a fight. She noticed that Kojyuro kept glancing at her, and eventually his grin faded away, replaced by a slight frown. Hisahide was also looking at her now, his grin subsided to a smirk.

"You two shouldn't be sitting next to each other. That's always a nuclear war waiting to happen."

"Complain to Sasuke, not us," Hisahide informed her; Kojyuro rolled his eyes and turned his head in the direction of the food. Kasuga looked at Sasuke, whom looked back at her nervously.

"Mind explaining?"

"You're not in a very good mood this morning, are you Kasuga," Nagamasa pointed out. Kasuga blinked, _'Nagamasa?'_

Upon seeing her male counterpart Kasuga smiled and got up, walking over to give him a hug. He returned it.

"I'm not really a morning person, you know that."

"Yes, but you're usually in a better mood then this. By the way, Sarutobi, don't make me use my justice speech on you," he threatened after his greeting, glaring at Sasuke. Sasuke quickly got up and ran away, throwing his arms in the air as if he were terrified. Kasuga shook her head at his back.

"You best get something to eat," Nagamasa said while Kasuga watched Hisahide migrate to the spot Sasuke had vacated; not that him being across from Kojyuro was going to help matters any more.

"So how was your night?" Motochika asked. Kasuga turned her head to him and replied without thinking.

"Terrible," inwardly she gasped, her eyes flicking to Kojyuro. He was eyeing her. She shifted her gaze to Hisahide, and saw with sinking feelings that his eyes were shifting between her and Kojyuro. His dark brown eyes rested on her when he saw she was looking at him, and he quirked an eyebrow. Kasuga looked away.

"A-anyway, I'm hungry so I'm going to get some food. I'll be back," she hurried away. The assortment of food this morning was a bit different from yesterday; there were waffles, pancakes, fruit, bread, sausages and bacon. She didn't know where to start.

_'That whipped cream looks tempting though... oh, I've got to have waffles! I must! With strawberries!'_

She had half devoured her waffles before making it back to the table, whipped cream all over her face. Since Hisahide had decided to half lie down on the couch – making Yukimura pout at him – Kasuga had no choice but to sit next to Kojyuro. She did so nervously, glaring at Hisahide when he straightened so Sasuke could sit back down next to Yukimura, whose pout deepened.

"You have whipped cream all over your face," Kojyuro commented. Kasuga rolled her eyes, licking off one of her fingers.

"Herp-derp. As if I didn't know that – HEY!" she exclaimed, nearly dropping her fork. Kojyuro had wrapped his large hand around the right side of her head, holding her still as he licked her cheek – she wasn't even sure if she _had _whipped cream on that cheek.

He released her, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth, "what? You did that to me yesterday."

"B-but that was just ice cream on your knuckles, it wasn't on your face!" she yelled, attempting to hit him with her fist. Her cheeks were on fire and her plate almost fell off her lap if Sasuke hadn't dove from his spot on the couch to hold it in place. Hisahide was leaning back against the couch across from them in silent laughter and Yukimura was – as usual – completely lost as to what was happening.

Nagamasa stopped Kasuga's futile attempts to beat Kojyuro with her fist and Masamune helped Sasuke clear the dish away from her so Nagamasa could pick her up.

"All right, let's go. Seems like you need to be kept a distance from him for a while."

"Nagamasa put me down!"

"For great justice, I shall not."

She whined and let him carry her a fair distance away from the group before he set her back down.

"Now I shall begin my interrogation -" he frowned when Kasuga groaned "- and you will tell me what happened between the two of you yesterday."

"A lot of things happened," she began. It was better for her to get it over with without having Nagamasa bombard her with questions.

"Started with the morning, he and Masamune were just messing around, I thought. But then Kojyuro wouldn't take his hand off my waist, and he got really irritated when Motochika suggested that they leave us alone... and after that when we were at The Cone Shop he kind of cornered me against the freezers. And after that I teased him and pinned him down to the bench because I wanted to try his ice cream," she bit her lip, hoping that Nagamasa would be happy with that amount of information. He quirked an eyebrow.

"Is that all?"

"Yeah, that's all," she nodded her head at him and smiled. She heard him sigh, but he didn't ask about there possibly being anything else that she wasn't telling him.

_'And if I told him about the whole thing that happened in the room... he'd be out for Kojyuro's head for sure. Especially if he finds out about that Kenshin comment...'_ a commotion at the tables the two had just left caught their attention. Ieyasu appeared to be trying to mediate while Yukimura was holding back Sasuke.

"Sasuke and... Kojyuro are fighting? What?" the surprise in Nagamasa's voice caught Kasuga off-guard. It wasn't uncommon for Sasuke and Kojyuro to get into fights sometimes; they got along, but only when absolutely necessary. Otherwise, they weren't on the best of terms.

_'But Nagamasa isn't really close with the guys,'_ she quickly followed after her counterpart when he began to walk briskly back to the tables, _'he's way too popular with the girls. But Sasuke and Kojyuro got into a lot of fights. Not so much fist fights, like he and Hisahide got into though... those always ended bad.'_

" - not something you should do!" she heard the last bit of what Sasuke had exclaimed, nearly giggling when Ieyasu commented, "oi, guys! I came here prepared to break up fights between _real_ enemies, not friends!"

"Sarutobi and I aren't exactly friends," Kojyuro said coldly, shrugging Masamune's hand off his shoulder, his eyes locked on Sasuke. Sasuke grit his teeth.

"I knew you'd say something like that. You're _always_ like this."

"How would you know what I'm always like? You hardly know me," Kojyuro crossed his arms over his chest, unimpressed. Kasuga looked between the two and caught Sasuke glancing at her a few times. His expression revealed that his argument with Kojyuro was about something he would prefer to avoid with her around.

"Anyway, you should know better then to do things like that. You -"

"Avoiding the subject, Sarutobi? Why? Because she's here now?" Kojyuro interrupted, jerking his head in Kasuga's direction. She stiffened when she heard Masamune mutter, "oi, Kojyuro..."

_'This... this can't be good.'_

Sasuke didn't reply to Kojyuro's questions, choosing instead to clench his teeth, Kasuga guessed. She didn't like where this conversation was going.

"Me avoiding the subject's got nothing to do with you, Katakura."

"It has _everything_ to do with me. You know the second you found out I liked her you got intimidated and _gave up_," Kojyuro jeered; the news made Kasuga's eyes widen with shock.

_'Sasuke... well, no, I kind of guessed but still he – he really _did_ get intimidated by someone else having feelings for me?'_ she gasped when Sasuke jerked out of Yukimura's hold and fisted his left hand in Kojyuro's shirt, right fist raised. He faltered though, a bead of sweat running down his forehead. Kojyuro's expression remained beastly, his eyes narrowed.

"Go on. Hit me," he encouraged before lowering his head slightly, "I'll make sure you regret it."

Kasuga quickly took matters into her own hands; Sasuke was tough, but not tough enough to withstand a blow from Kojyuro when the other man meant it. She forcefully made Sasuke let go of Kojyuro's shirt, glaring at the both of them the best she could.

"That's enough! In case you didn't notice, _I'm standing right here!_ Stop being inconsiderate bastards. Though that goes more for _you,_ and you know why," she directed her glare at Kojyuro only to have him glare right back – as she expected. She grabbed his wrist, pressing her palm against Sasuke's chest when he moved towards her.

"I need to talk to him. You guys _better _not follow us," she hissed. Hisahide gave her a wave, a smirk on his lips; he was highly amused, that much Kasuga could tell.

She stormed out of the hotel doors with Kojyuro in tow – she was surprised he was letting her drag him off. Once outside she found a nice little secluded spot where she could talk to him more privately but still be in the sight of others should they miraculously walk by. She cornered him against the wall.

"You. You are _ridiculous_," she told him furiously, "first you go and tell me to give up on Kenshin, then you decide to tell Sasuke he better man up and take you on? Oh _shut up_ you implied it!" she screeched at him when he opened his mouth to speak.

"You don't think he isn't serious about me?" she demanded. Kojyuro tilted his head.

"If he was serious about you, he wouldn't have gotten intimidated by me."

"Kojyuro, _anyone_ in their right mind would be intimidated by you! You're cold, stubborn, ferocious – who _wouldn't _be intimidated by you? Hisahide doesn't count."

Kojyuro sighed and Kasuga kicked him lightly. She received a glare from him.

"Not to mention you glare at everyone. Try smiling every once in a while, yeah? Or are you incapable," she inquired, trying to look as threatening as possible. His lips quirked up at one side, "that's a smirk, Kojyuro."

"Nothing I do will satisfy you, will it?"

The tone of his voice infuriated her and she slapped him, "I _really_ don't like that Kojyuro. You can be so damn full of yourself sometimes. If I was your girlfriend I would have broken up with you already!"

He recovered from whatever shock he felt from her slap; his widened eyes returned to their usual glare when he looked at her. The dark emotion that flickered through his green eyes made Kasuga shiver from her shoulders to the middle of her spine.

"I could make you regret that."

"You really like to tell people what you could make them regret too, did you notice that? So are you going to make me regret doing this?" before he could ask her about what 'this' she was talking about Kasuga thrust her hand in his hair and jerked his head down to her level, planting a firm kiss on his lips. She couldn't keep him stunned for longer then a minute, and so quickly she broke away from him.

_'That'll keep him quiet for a while. In the meantime,'_ Kasuga pushed away from the wall and made her way back to the hotel, swaying her hips from side-to-side and feeling accomplished. She would probably be seeing Kojyuro later that evening, in her room most likely. But for the moment Kasuga would let him stare at the place where she had been standing. She still had to deal with Sasuke and his exposed feelings for her.

* * *

(A/N): This is really all I have time to do because of SCAD. Not that I like it at all... hope you liked it. Despite the awkward ending. I have so many stories I want to write/ need to write and yet, no brain power nor time to get them done...


	3. Chapter 3

WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN-

Pairings: Hisahide x Oichi (centric); Masamune x Oichi (hinted).

From: A story that I ditched because it was too similar to manga that I read (Desire Climax). Actually I did that on purpose. But added a twist of my own revolving around the fact that Nobunaga was trying to arrange Oichi's marriage to Hisahide except she fell in love with Masamune and **well it was really complicated. **

All in all, this is pretty random; but I hope you enjoy it regardless.

* * *

She heard the sound of a chair being pulled out, "what are you looking at now?"

"Oh, I'm just looking down the hall," Ichi replied turning around and walking toward the table. He quirked an eyebrow at her when she sat across from him. They stared at each other in silence until Hisahide dropped his head to the table and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Ichi demanded, unable to prevent a smile from coming to her lips. Hisahide raised his head.

"What are we, strangers?" he asked giving her a look. Ichi looked up at the ceiling then back at him; he was resting his chin on his arms. Ichi didn't know it was possible for him to look cute.

She stood and walked to a chair that was closer to him, "are you happy now?"

"Yes, I'm happy," he propped an arm up on the table and leaned against his palm, "how have you been?"

"I've been... good," she replied, fiddling with the bottom of her shirt, "Mitsu-kun is quite taken with the idea of adopting Ranmaru and I. Masamune complained that it's affecting his lectures."

Hisahide chuckled, "really. Masamune complaining about his lectures? How strange," then he tilted his head, "how is that affecting Mitsuhide's lectures?"

"Masamune told me that he'll suddenly stop talking during class, mutters to himself or stares off into space."

The guilty expression that Hisahide had taken on made Ichi giggle uncontrollably.

"That's... my fault, isn't it? Oh dear... I haven't been able to talk him out of it yet."

"You don't have to, Hisahide..." she began, but stopped when he gave her a sinister look.

"Um... never mind."

"Ichi I really don't want you to be forced to marry me," he told her, lowering his head. The mood in the room had shifted dramatically, and Ichi didn't like it.

_'It suddenly became so heavy in here... I don't like this feeling,'_ she jumped up from her chair, startling Hisahide.

"Show me around! I don't want to talk about melancholy things," she demanded cutely, marching over to the hall way. Hisahide released yet another sigh, but it wasn't an irritated sounding one. It was more like a sigh an older brother would use before giving into his little sister's demand to be given a piggy-back ride.

"Fine, fine, I'll show you around. There isn't that much to see though."

"Hmph!"

He quirked an eyebrow at her and walked past her into the hall, "well, what do you wanna' see first anyway?"

"... how about the room that actually has a door open?"

Hisahide laughed, "right, then. Bathroom's here," he tapped the door as they passed it. Ichi nodded her head, eager to see whose room she was being led to.

"This is V's room. Well, Vincent, but we call him V for short. He's a camera guy, so he's not in very many photos. He likes to be organized but he could care less about his... um..." Hisahide struggled for a word while Ichi pranced around the room, touching nothing but looking intently. Vincent was a good photographer.

"Desk?" she offered after a moment, glancing at the clutter on the desk. Her eyes widened a bit, _'wait, is that eye shadow?'_

"Uh, _no_, desk isn't the right word... vanity would be more accurate," Hisahide leaned against the doorway and finally admitted, "Vincent's a cosplayer."

"A cosplayer!" Ichi exclaimed, surprised, "wait, what does he look like? 'Cause in the photos I only saw you with two guys who had short hair -"

Hisahide laughed, "I've recently realized how uncommon it is for a guy to cosplay, but he likes to. He told me his most favorite cosplay was when he went to a convention as Sephiroth. He mostly uses that make-up to create scars and what not," he shook his head, "V's a good friend of JJ's."

"JJ?" Ichi repeated, giving Hisahide a look, "you pretty close with these guys or something?"

Hisahide laughed, "I've known JJ for a while, but Vincent prefers to be called V. He's one of JJ's good friends, and any friend of JJ's is a friend of mine."

"Kojyuro didn't know him?"

"None of us really saw much of each other, but I can guarantee that if Kojyuro and I were within seeing distance of each other, we would both be on edge," Hisahide explained. He was leaning against the door to JJ's room. Ichi clasped her hands behind her back.

"Um, what would JJ's name be?"

"Johnson Jones."

Ichi blinked at him, "really?"

"Yeah. He prefers John Jones to Johnson, since Johnson is... a strange first name. He's part Australian..." he then chuckled nervously, "you look hopeful."

"You look like you don't want me to see inside his room," Ichi accused. Hisahide averted his gaze to the ceiling.

"I really don't."

"Why not?"

"I would say it's because of your virgin eyes, but they aren't so virgin anymore are they?" his gaze dropped back down to her, a cheeky smile on his lips.

Ichi turned beet red, "y-y-y-y-y-you -! H-how would you know w-w-whether or not my eyes are s-still virgin?"

Hisahide chuckled, "your answer clearly proves how far along you and Masamune are."

Ichi's mouth hung agape; she really didn't know what to say in response to that. She was aware, however, that her face was turning redder by the second. A sly look came upon Hisahide's features.

"Did you have fun?" he pressed, placing his knuckles on his hips. Ichi blushed furiously.

"Don't tease me!"

"Answer my question and I won't."

"I – I – I -!" she stuttered, unable to find her voice.

"You...?" he urged, a broad smirk slowly making it's way over his lips. Ichi glared at him.

"Well?"

"... it... it was a bit painful," she finally admitted, looking toward V's room. In the silence that followed her statement she wondered if V had ever cosplayed as a female character.

Suddenly Hisahide started laughing. Ichi looked at him in confusion to see him leaning against the wall, banging his fist against it lightly. He had a nice laugh, much nicer than his dark chuckles. His tight t-shirt and form fitting jeans distracted Ichi's attention.

_'I never realized... what a nice body he has...'_ she blinked when he changed his positioning, so he was leaning against one arm now and facing her.

"Like what you see, Oichi-chan?" he dragged out the sound of her name, a knowing tone in his voice. She snapped her eyes up to his, cheeks warm. Of course she liked what she saw, but she wasn't going to give him the pleasure of knowing that.

"Not going to answer my question are you?" he muttered. She "hmphed" and walked past him to the next room. She turned the knob and pushed the door open, looking up at him when he came to stand next to her.

"This is, quite obviously, my room."

Ichi was about to walk inside when he clamped a hand on her shoulder, holding her back. Shocked, she looked up at him again.

"Do you _really_ think that's a wise choice?" his voice was lower then usual. Her heart started beating more quickly.

_'We're here... alone. And he likes me... so no, it's-'_

"Not a wise choice," she replied quietly, looking down at the floor, _'but I want to see inside his room...'_

Ichi shrugged off his hand and felt along the wall for the light switch, flicking it on when her hand encountered it. His room was nothing like she had expected. The walls were bare, the desk tidy, the bed made. It looked as if no one had ever been in the room before.

"... do you actually sleep in here, or do you sleep on the couch?" she questioned. He stifled his laughter, shaking his head.

"I d-do sleep in here it's just – ha ha – I'm the t-tidiest one in this apartment. Are you surprised?" he answered her through his laughs. Oichi frowned and quickly looked at the ground.

"Well I guess not... you won't let me see inside JJ's room and V's room is a mess because of all his supplies so... what exactly makes JJ's room such a mess?"

Hisahide gave her a look, his eyebrow raised, "you want me to tell you?"

"Yes."

"You want me to honestly tell you what makes his room such a mess?" he asked, rephrasing his question and gripping the door frame with his hand so he could easily lean down to her height. Oichi blushed and looked down at the floor, rubbing her neck with her hand.

"What part of 'yes' don't you understand?" she demanded, pouting. He snorted, hanging his head as his shoulders shook with silent laughter.

"Normally someone would say 'what part of no don't you understand'. I really thought you would figure it out for yourself because I mentioned virgin eyes, but since you're so desperate..." he moved closer to her, his lips next to her ear, "his room is full of porn."

Oichi blushed against her will and turned quickly, making Hisahide sputter when her hair whipped him in the face. She reached the middle of the living room before she stopped herself from walking, _'sometimes, he can just be so annoying!'_

She glanced over her shoulder at him, noticing that he was again leaning against the wall. If it weren't for his thoughtful expression and narrowed back brows Oichi would have thought he was flaunting his perfectly proportioned body.

_'I suppose I'm lucky I know a man as attractive as him... ah! What am I saying? Aren't I in a relationship with Masamune? Plus, the two of us... together we already...'_ she brought a hand up to her face and looked down at the floor.

It was impossible for her to deny that she didn't have any lingering feelings for Hisahide. If her life was a manga, she would take the role of the typical cute heroine and Kasuga would be the big-breasted beauty – though in reality Kasuga really _was_ a big-breasted beauty.

And in her manga-life, it would mean that Oichi was dating the typical hero character who was attractive in his own right, just like Masamune was. But where Masamune lost to Hisahide was in terms of height, build, mannerisms and if Hisahide would ever take his hair out of the wheel shape he usually had it in, Oichi was sure Masamune would lose to him in terms of looks too. Even the way Hisahide styled his beard was attractive and unique.

_'Now just what am I thinking, comparing them like this... I don't think Masamune would be too happy if he found out that really, Hisahide took my first kiss...'_ Oichi decided to sit down on the couch in the living room, even if she only wanted to do so because Hisahide's stare was making her nervous.

In her mind she couldn't help picturing Masamune and Hisahide standing side-by-side. Hisahide had at least five inches on Masamune in height, his shoulders were broader and arms were bigger. And with Hisahide's body shape being, well, perfectly proportioned, it meant his torso was a bit longer than Masamune's. Oichi clapped her hands to her cheeks.

_'Stop thinking about it already! Ichi is dating Masamune! Ichi isn't dating Hisahide! Masamune! MASAMUNE!'_

"Hey, Oichi... you... hate me don't you?"

"Eh- wh-what brought that on?" she exclaimed at Hisahide's sudden question, lurching to her feet. She bumped into him, having been unaware that he was standing in front of her now.

"Ah..."

"You hate me don't you?" he repeated, his voice serious. Oichi scowled up at him.

"How could I hate you?" she demanded in response, instinctively reaching for his hand to assure him that she didn't hate him. He flinched away from her touch.

"Even after what I did to you when we were younger."

Oichi flushed, "th-that was when we were younger! And at that time you know I – Ichi didn't mind!" she clapped her hand over her mouth, alarmed. Hisahide smiled solemnly at her, taking a step back.

"Really? But you only refer to yourself in third person when you're uncomfortable. I know you well enough. Of course you hate me. That was your first kiss wasn't it? And I didn't go about taking it in the most polite way," he lightly grasped her wrist, pulling her with him as he walked towards the hallway, "you really hated it, didn't you?"

"Why are you bringing this up now? Ichi doesn't understand," she whispered, temporarily referring to herself as Ichi again, like she did when she was a child.

"Why am I bringing it up now? I wonder," he pulled her into his room, not bothering to turn on the lights; Oichi raised her head from its droop when he released her.

"Maybe it's because you're dating Masamune. Maybe I'm jealous," he muttered as he lay down on his bed. He gestured to her and after a moment's hesitation Oichi went to him. He grabbed her wrists and brought her hands to his neck. Her fingers twitched, coiling around his throat of their own accord. Hisahide didn't break eye-contact with her.

_'It's... it's in his nature to be manipulative. He's manipulating me right now right? He's trying to manipulate me into believing that I hate him for Kami knows what reason...'_ and though Oichi knew this she couldn't prevent her hands from tightening their hold on his neck just a little.

"You know you hate me," his voice hypnotized her and she tightened her grip on his neck further, "yeah, you hate me."

Oichi didn't know how long she had her hands closed around his throat, or how long she stared at his pained expression. When his hands dropped away from her wrists she immediately released him and dashed out of the room, her heart pounding in her chest.

_'Did I-? Did Ichi? Did Ichi just _kill_ him? No, no it can't be! He can't be dead!'_ she rushed back into the room, stopping herself from falling onto him by thrusting her hands against the mattress.

"Hisahide! _Hisahide! _Open your eyes! You can't be dead you just can't; Ichi won't believe it- mmph!" Oichi's voice was muffled against Hisahide's lips.

She wasn't supposed to come running back in his room and make sure he was all right – she was supposed to _leave_. Because he couldn't keep himself in check anymore, especially after he cracked open an eye and saw her crying face.

_'She's so beautiful,'_ he thought before he sat up suddenly, his hand thrust in her hair. It didn't matter to him that she had a boyfriend; he still had feelings for her, yes he loved her but the only thing he really wanted was for her to love him of her own will.

He didn't want her to be forced to marry him. Her happiness was his top priority.

"Why didn't you leave?" he demanded after pulling away from her, "you were supposed to leave."

Judging by the way her mouth flapped open and closed, she didn't know what to say to him. After a moment he did faintly hear her say "but Ichi had to make sure she didn't kill you" before he gave in and kissed her again.

* * *

(A/N): YEAH.


	4. Chapter 4

**Drabble #4: Dating.**

Pairing: Kojyuro x Kasuga; KoKasu.

Setting: Oxford, London; during fall. I've been there during this time, and it's so beautiful.

Universe: Alternate-modern.

Summary: Habits lead to rumors and rumors lead to reality.

A/N: Just something KoKasu and cute~

* * *

"You know the rumors that go around the school," Kasuga shivered, clenching her scarf more tightly around her neck. Kojyuro glanced at her, the cigarette in his hand burning away.

"Yeah I've heard them. Everything thinks we're dating."

"Because we're always together," Kasuga smiled fondly, though she quickly covered her smile with her scarf, _'can't let him see that.'_.

Kojyuro laughed lightly, finally stubbing out his fag against the cold cement wall and flicking it onto the ice below.

Kasuga was very fond of Kojyuro. He was stoic and mean-looking, but gentle and kind at heart. It had taken her a year to break away his facade of anger to find the wonderful man underneath. She still recalled the time he openly laughed – it was only the two of them in a small cafe, at the outdoor tables, overlooking the nearby wharf. Seagulls and the sun in the air, but a cold autumn's day. She still remembered the pleasant sound of his laugh.

_'Been a while since he's laughed like that,'_ she shuffled closer to him, bumping her arm against his. She didn't even have to ask; he wrapped his arms around her and held her close, shielding her against the cold.

"What am I, your personal heater?" he gave a few passersby a hard glare. They were students from the school and the group hurried on their way, muttering to each other.

"And there go more rumors," Kasuga piqued, glancing back at their university. Oxford was such a beautiful place in the fall.

"Hey, do you want to go to the park sometime?" she asked, cuddling against Kojyuro's chest. He huffed burying his nose in her hair.

"To feed the squirrels again? That's what you always want to do," he muttered; to Kasuga it sounded like he was disappointed.

"We don't _always_ have to go to feed the squirrels. We could just go for a walk. You know," she leaned her head back to look at him, "just the two of us."

His eyes widened slightly, his cheeks red from the cold. He inclined his head towards Kasuga and for the moment her heart stopped and her eyes fluttered shut.

In the distance a bell rang and startled them apart, Kasuga bringing her hand up to her lips.

_'Our lips... didn't touch but he -'_ she glanced at him, noticing that he was purposefully distracting himself by looking at the small birds flying over the bridge, _'-he wanted to kiss me?'_

Kasuga was sure that the blush that rose to her cheeks wasn't caused by the cold.

* * *

"Hey um... Kasuga."

Kojyuro raised his head, squinting his eyes at the girls who had approached the blonde. She looked up at them, one of her long strands of hair cascading off her shoulder and revealing her beautiful pale neck. Kojyuro had to force himself to tear his eyes away from her neck, averting them to the girls across from her.

"What is it?" her voice distracted Kojyuro again, his eyes drifting back.

He wondered why she had tried so hard to break through his stoic shell – hardly anyone managed, the only other successful person being Masamune, Kojyuro's closest friend. Masamune was in Japan, however, and several years younger than Kojyuro at that; Kojyuro was in his early twenties, Masamune was still in his early teens. And though he was so young Masamune was wise beyond his years.

"Are you and..." the girl that was speaking bit her lip, "are you and Kojyuro dating?"

Kojyuro didn't know whether he should flush or smirk – he chose the latter, propping his elbow against the table and his cheek against his fist, gazing at Kasuga, _'I wonder what she's going to say to that.'_

Her beautiful amber eyes glanced at him, then she spoke, "we -" she looked at him again and he saw her lips curl up slyly "- _are_ dating, actually."

Kojyuro couldn't believe his ears, _'what a lie! But a lie... that I like.'_

He had to admit that he had fallen in love with her. She was the perfect woman for him: straight forward, stubborn, tough and perfectly feminine. Even with the short hair at the back.

One of the guys from one of Kasuga's classes approached then, and as the unofficial-but-now-official-boyfriend of Kasuga he felt he needed to "protect" her from the incoming threat. Swiftly he walked to her side, grabbing her hand in his and lifting it to his lips, caressing the back of her hand.

"Wha -"

"Haven't you heard? We're dating," Kojyuro informed the other man smoothly, maintaining his composure even as he felt giddiness sweep over him. He grasped Kasuga's hand tightly and pulled her away from the group without waiting for acceptance from them. Kasuga, he noticed, seemed just as startled by his advance as the other students were; he offered her a reassuring smile and she relaxed.

He led her out of the school, much to her dismay.

"Kojyuro! I still have a class and-"

"So do I. Not like they're going to care if we skip," he pulled her up to his side, wrapping his arm securely around her shoulders, "you always wanted to know where I live, since it's off campus. And since you know my family's rich."

"Yeah but... _fine!_" she pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, "take me there then, rich boy."

* * *

Kasuga hadn't expected this _at all_.

What she had been expecting was a nice apartment at least, and a large house at most.

Not an entire old steam train!

"My parents had it fixed up, refurnished and repainted. And this is the result," he had told her upon entering the old iron train. It was only six cars out of twenty, Kojyuro had said, but two of the cars had been stacked on top of each other. On the outside, it looked like the cars were just placed together in a square; once inside, Kasuga had found that the walls were knocked down and replaced, doors also put inside.

Now she and Kojyuro sat on the wide window ledge of the top car. Her eyes drifter back to the ornate, swirling staircase Kojyuro had led her up.

The window ledge was covered with quilts and beautiful pillows. Kasuga wondered why Kojyuro had childishly draped one over the both of them – now she couldn't look out the window.

"So... Kasuga."

"Hm?"

"You do realize we're going to have to keep this up, right?" he gazed at her lazily, his fingers drifting over her hand. She looked down, trying to hide her blush.

"I guess we are."

"So we're really dating now?" he pushed the issue, shuffling closer to her. She snagged one of his fingers in hers, wetting her lips.

"Yes, we're really dating now," she replied looking up at him. Kasuga thought he would incline his head towards her but instead he continued to gaze at her. She blushed.

"People who are dating kiss, right?" he had the cheekiest smile on his lips. It was like he had planned it, and she knew she didn't need to answer him, but she did anyway.

"Yes. Yes, Kojyuro, they kiss," her reply came out more breathless than she wanted, but she blamed it on his heady gaze.

He leaned down, catching her lips in his and wrapping his warm hand around hers.


	5. Chapter 5

I wanted something short, sweet and kinda' romantic. So who do I make my victims?

Kasuga and Kojyuro of course.

Might be a scene in a upcoming AU but not AU story. Might also be modified to better fit the story.

No I don't know why I called it Daylight.

* * *

**Daylight**

Kasuga glared at him. Kojyuro glared right back.

"I told you. You're seventeen. I'm twenty-five. _You're_ still a minor."

She rolled her eyes, running her tongue over her teeth, "a-and you s-still invited me!"

He brought his hand up to his face, "I know _that._ I invited you to a dance as a _friend_."

"Yeah, and you still had to jump in and s-stop all the other g-guys from flirting with me!" she retorted, jabbing him in the chest. He held his hands up in surrender but then reached forward and grabbed her wrist, pulling her away from the main hall.

"N-now what?" she demanded. He glanced over his shoulder at her as he led her into an empty hallway, dimly lit.

"They're staring," he muttered. Kasuga crossed her arms over her chest, brushing her fingers up and down her biceps. Kojyuro scratched the back of his head, looking at the floor. After what Kasuga found an irritating silence, she leaned against the nearest wall, goosebumps breaking out over her bare arms.

"L-look. You don't want them staring, you don't want them f-flirting with me, so th-then why did you invite me?" she smirked when he cringed, refusing to raise his gaze.

Suddenly he jerked his head up, eyes narrowed, "why are you stuttering so much?"

"Oh really?" she dropped her jaw at him, "you _really_ have to ask? I'm c-cold! You never t-told me it was g-gonna' be cold in here s-so I wore _this,_" she gestured to her short, ruffly dress. Kojyuro was silent, his face slowly turning a light shade of pink. Kasuga snorted lightly, hugging herself more tightly and turning her head to the side.

There were so many couples inside, all dancing. And Kasuga really just wanted to dance with Kojyuro, because what did she care about age? All she knew was that she really liked him.

"I d-don't see why you care so much, about our age," she muttered, "I'm l-like th-three months from b-being eighteen -" her own gasp cuts her off when Kojyuro takes one large step towards her and stands right up against her, holding her to the wall.

"You said you were cold," he replied to her questioning look. She hadn't been able to stop her blush – but neither had he.

"You know," she slipped her arms around his waist under his jacket, "you're really warm," she pressed her nose against his chest, slowly tipping her head up to run her nose over his neck, "and you smell _so_ good. Cinnamon, isn't it?"

"Er, well -"

"Kojyuro," she leaned back, her lips brushing against his chin, "cinnamon is my favourite scent. And you're wearing it. That's really," she wraps her arms more tightly around him, bringing her mouth to his ear, "sweet."

He lowered his forehead to her shoulder. It didn't take long before he turned his head, running his tongue over her neck.

"Huh, maybe you just-" she titled her head down to accept his kiss, tongue prodding at her lips "- wanted me all to yourself."


End file.
